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The top four seem to be obvious (except maybe the order).
NO makes any top five due to its uniqueness, influence and the effect it has on the local culture, though obviously it's not the healthiest.
Cleveland deserves a spot up there. With Michael Symon, Johnathan Sawyer, E. 4th, Ohio City, Uptown, Little Italy, Sokalowski's, the West Side Market we have a booming culinary scene. One of the more unique things about our dining scene is farm to table, and urban agriculture, which are both huge here.
Location: Baghdad by the Bay (San Francisco, California)
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In CD tradition, I'll do it like this:
Tier 1: New York /Bay Area -- city to city, NY is the runaway leader. However, factor in Wine Country and the areas around SF and it gets much closer. I'd still give a nod to NY, based primarily on volume, as I believe quality, inventiveness of offerings, food culture, ethnic variety and range of offerings of the two regions is similarly excellent.
Tier 2: Chicago/LA--from celebrity chefs to street food, both are far and away superior to most other cities. Both are inventive and influential. Both offer great ethnic cuisine as well. Slight nod to Chicago, but really too close to call.
--big gap--
Tier 3: New Orleans/Houston--NOLA has refinement, but lacks the inventiveness of the cities above. Houston has the range and quality, but lacks the critical regionalism and inventiveness in its upper tier. Both cities do casual very well. NOLA gets a slight favorite, because it distinguishes itself so well and infuses its unique culture into its cuisine a bit better than Houston does.
Isn't this topic done like every month? Ok I will bite though:
1. NYC
2. Chicago
3. SF
4. LA
5. Miami (I love Latin food)
I agree with the top 4 here. I'd put a tie between say Miami and New Orleans at #5 and maybe put Philadelphia in with that. Perhaps Houston.
Not sure about the love for Honolulu on here. They have good food, but not top 10 worthy. I ate at one of the top restaurants in Honolulu and while good, would not be near the top in NYC, Chicago, or San Francisco. Good though. I also had some of the worst sushi I've ever had outside of grocery store sushi there, and was not impressed with the Chinese food in Chinatown after we ate at "one of the best Chinese places in town" according to locals. I did also have some good food there, including the fine dining place ($200+ dinner) but overall I'd say the food was only slightly above average. Could be worse, the city may be top 15 or 20 for me, but anybody thinking that's a top 5 city needs to get out more.
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